⁍ Protesters in some poorer areas of Madrid that are facing lockdown to stem a soaring COVID-19 infection rate took to the streets on Sunday.

---

⁍ Madrid’s regional government on Friday ordered a lockdown from Monday in some of the poorer areas of the city and its outskirts.

---

⁍ The lockdown measures predominantly apply to areas of lower income and with higher immigrant populations.

---

– Some 850,000 people live in poorer areas of Madrid, where a spike in coronavirus cases has prompted authorities to impose a lockdown starting Monday, Reuters reports. Protesters took to the streets in 12 of the city’s 37 districts Sunday, calling for better health care and accusing authorities of discriminating against the poor. “It is illogical that you can go and do things in wealthier areas, but you cannot do the same in Vallecas,” one protester says. “There is the same risk of contagion. They are discriminating.” Madrid’s regional leader, Isabel Diaz Ayuso, has come under fire for saying “the way of life of immigrants” is partly to blame for the rise in cases, but Madrid Mayor Jose Luis Mart ⁇ nez-Almeida says the measures don’t discriminate against the poor. “There are no first class residents and second class residents. We have to be together at this moment,” he tweeted. Some 640,040 people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in Spain, health authorities said on Friday, with a rise of 4,697 in the past 24 hours. Nearly 30,500 people have died. Madrid regional health chief Enrique Ruiz Escudero said if these measures did not reduce coronavirus cases, a city-wide lockdown could follow. “If it is necessary to shut down Madrid, we will do it,” he said in an interview with ABC newspaper on Sunday.